1. Detecting Anthropogenic Stress in an Ecosystem: 3. Mesoscale Variability and Biotic Indices.
- Author
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Chenery, AnnaM. and Mudge, StephenM.
- Subjects
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ANTHROPOGENIC soils , *ANTHROPOGENIC effects on nature , *BIOTIC communities , *ECOLOGY , *INDUSTRIAL contamination , *SEWERAGE - Abstract
Previous work in the Ria Formosa Lagoon has revealed that it is possible to use macrofauna community structure as an indicator of contamination effects. Communities at sites adjacent to sewage outfalls indicated contamination but no pollution gradients were observed. In this study, macrofauna within a sub-section of the earlier work were investigated to determine the extent of mesoscale (10–100 m) variability and new indices of biological community structure. The results were evaluated using univariate (Marine Biotic Index; BI) and multivariate statistical methods (PCA). The computer program Barrier (usually used with genetic data) was also applied to detect “barriers” between spatially referenced samples. PCA identified the most significant factor effecting the distribution of the organisms in the study area to be the mud content of the sediment (% [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2005
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